Tales Of A Minstrel
by Flapjack97
Summary: Julvian is a bard with a fondness of firearms. Along with his friends, he goes on a myriad of adventures, all for the purpose of recovering a stolen treasure. The story of a campaign I played with my friends. T because I feel like it.


**This is the story of a D&D campaign that I was playing with two friends of mine. I have not finished typing what we have played, and so you can expect an update sooner rather than later. Unfortunately, after that you (and I) will have to wait until we play some more, which doesn't happen often, though we all wish it could.**

**And just so you know, I was Julvian.**

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><p><em><strong>Tales of a Minstrel<strong>_

Julvian sighed with relief. After miles of this hilly terrain, they had finally reached the shrine of The Order of The Invincible Sun. He had met up with his fellow adventurers, Kieyanna, Rompus, and Wyatt, a few months before, and they had quickly become friends. Kieyanna was a sorceress, and a half-elf like him. Rompus and Reverend Wyatt Hacker (Wyatt's full name) were human. Rompus was a barbarian, and Wyatt a cleric. He himself was a bard, though he excelled in the making and usage of firearms. He carried a shotgun and revolver that he had made himself, and a punching dagger for close range protection.

"I see it there, on the horizon," Kieyanna called out. And indeed, there it was. But off the forty feet off the path or so was a hole, or a crack, in the ground. Covered by some bushes, it looked very mysterious.

"Why don't we investigate that, first," Rompus said, gesturing towards said hole.

"I don't see why not," Wyatt agreed.

"Then let's go," Julvian said. They walked over to the hole. It was about three feet wide, five feet long, and somewhere along the lines of twenty feet deep. At the bottom, illuminated by the sunlight, was a green-gray moss. Rompus struck a sun-rod and dropped it down. When it hit the moss, the moss gave off a cloud of something, which floated up towards them. In the light of the sun-rod, they observed that there was a small cavern, with rock piles blocking the way in three directions, though they looked climbable.

"Now, how to get down..." mused Julvian.

"I have rope," Wyatt offered.

"That ought to do," Julvian returned. They decided Rompus was to descend first. "The way I see it," Julvian said, "we can either tie the rope to one of these bushes, or lower you down."

"I think I would rather the bush," Rompus decided.

They tied the rope round what appeared to be the strongest bush, and Rompus descended.

"Well, if that rope is strong enough for him, it's strong enough for me," Julvian declared. Rompus was very large, and easily the heaviest among them. After this, Julvian clambered down the rope into the cavern. Next went Kieyanna, who slid down the rope in such a beautiful fashion, by the time she hit the bottom Julvian was staring at her open-mouthed.

"If we're done with the circus, I'll come down," called Wyatt.

He climbed down, and they were all there. While all this had been going on, Rompus had climbed up the right rock pile and discovered two things: a dead end, and, in the slightly darker part of cave, the phosphorescence of the moss.

"The moss, it glows, like candlelight," he said.

"Really? How interesting," Wyatt answered.

"Shh," Julvian said. "I think I hear something."

And he did. He heard a faint squeaking coming from the left tunnel. Ascending the rock pile, he heard it louder, and thought he recognized it: bats.

"Hey, I think I hear bats," he said. "I'm going to throw this rock up there, into that high ceiling, and see what's up there. Liurrkra!" He intoned, lighting up the rock with a bright light.

"Hold on, would you?" said Rompus, quickly maneuvering back into the main cavern. "Now go ahead."

With Wyatt next to him, Julvian chucked his light-rock high up, where it crashed against the ceiling, illuminating what he knew he would see: dozens and dozens of bats. When the rock began to fall, Julvian willed the spell to end, and the light winked out. But the damage had been done. The bats swarmed out of their cavern towards the adventurers. They swarmed them, clinging on wherever they could, biting, bleeding them, trying to drink their blood.

"Back up the rope!" Julvian cried. "We have to get out of here!" He ran over to the rope and began to climb. The others stayed on the ground, not climbing after him for fear the weight would tear the bush from the ground. They fought and tried to keep the bats away, as Julvian climbed. They must have has some venom, for the wounds sustained did not clot, but continued to bleed freely, and Julvian knew he would need healing. Upon reaching the top, he collapsed and murmured, "Hyvkraka." His wounds stitched themselves up, and he stood, healed. He looked down upon his companions and observed an interesting sight: only Kieyanna was standing, the other two and the bats all lying on the floor, stunned. "What happened?" he exclaimed.

"I cast Color Spray, but I accidentally hit Rompus and Wyatt as well!" Kieyanna called in answer, sounding mildly distraught. "The bats are stunned, but they will all wake up soon, and then where will we be?"

"Tie the rope about Wyatt, and I will haul him up," suggested Julvian. Kieyanna did so, and he began to pull him up. The bats, Rompus and Wyatt remained in their stunned state, unable to do anything at all. As Julvian pulled up Wyatt, Kieyanna cast various spells upon the bats, attempting to destroy them whilst they could do nothing in defense. Having pulled up Wyatt, Julvian once again intoned "Hyvkraka," and Wyatt's still-bleeding wounds were aided. Julvian tossed the rope back down to Kieyanna.

"Climb up," he told her. She ran to the rope and started up it, climbing much faster than Julvian. Once she reached the top, however, she ran over to Julvian.

"The spell has expired!" she exclaimed, but unnecessarily. The loud squeaking of the bats and the fluttering of wings told him this, as well as the movement of Wyatt and the shouts of Rompus from below.

"Come, Rompus!" Kieyanna yelled down below. Rompus obliged, speedily ascending to the rest of the world. Wyatt, functional again, healed Rompus' and Kieyanna's wounds.

"I suppose we need a new plan of action," he said.

"I think we should go on to the shrine," Julvian said.

"You think we should leave behind this cavern? As a coward might?" growled Rompus.

"Indeed I do not," said Julvian, "I think we should go on to the place we were sent to, and return here later.

"I suppose that is acceptable," Rompus said. They resumed their journey along the path, until they came to the shrine, where two humans guards were posted. Julvian stepped up to converse.

"Hello, my good sirs," he greeted.

"Hello to you as well," returned one of the guards.

"We have been sent by the Order of the Invincible Sun to recover three stolen discs, and possibly some kidnapped persons."

"We know of your mission. We also watched as you climbed into and out of that hole down the road a ways. Why did you come here? That was where the lizard-thieves fled after their raid."

"You watched us? Then why did you not come over to help us, when we were obviously hurting?"

"We knew only of your mission, not of you yourselves."

"I see. We came here because we were... We were..." Julvian thought. "We were hoping for some more information, which you have already given us. But would you kindly allow us a look inside the shrine?"

"Why?" the guard asked, looking uneasy and suspicious. "Do you hope to find some clues, or something?" Rompus forced his way in front of Julvian, angry.

"Is it not enough that we are here to help you and your shrine? Respect your benefactors, soldier, and let us pass," he growled threataningly. The man blanched.

"N-no disre-respect meant, s-sir..." He trailed off as Rompus glared at him, and stood aside. They entered the shrine, and looked around. It was composed of three rooms. The main room contained a place of worship, and a place for the three discs they searched for. The left room was a place to sleep, and the right a tiny kitchen. They stepped back out.

"Thank you, gentlemen," Julvian said. The four turned and walked away.

"J-just so y-you know, sir," the guard called after them, talking to Rompus, "j-just b-because I'm o-over h-here d-doesn't mean there is any less res-respect from m-me towards y-you, s-sir," the guard rambled on. Rompus just snorted.

Back at the hole, they checked the rope and climbed down, the bats having flown back to their cave in the absence of prey.

"To the right is a dead end," Kieyanna said, "and to the left are the bats."

"I suppose that leaves just straight forward," Wyatt ended. They collectively climbed the rock pile, and continued up the path...

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><p><strong>Dun dun dun! Okay, not really. I hope you enjoyed my story, and I will do my best to get up the rest of what I can write. Then we will just have to wait.<strong>

**Sincerely,**

**Flapjack97.**


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